FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE)— The City of Fort Wayne and its partners announced that the Plant, Pick and Plate program will launch soon for kids on the southeast side. The program, for kids in grades 5-9, will teach participants how to plant and harvest fresh produce and cook their own meals. "We can sit and talk about things," James Wolff, director of Purdue Extension-Allen County. "But until you really experience it and do it, you really don't get that practical application that you're really going to remember for the rest of your life." Fort Wayne was able to launch this program with partners like Purdue Extension because of a $250,000 grant received in January. The money was awarded to the city after the United States Conference of Mayors named Fort Wayne the first-place winner of the 2025 Childhood Obesity Prevention & Environmental Health & Sustainability Awards. Fort Wayne was in the category of "large cities," which were cities with populations over 260,000. Fort Wayne's population is just under 270,000. "Right then I was a little concerned," Andrea Robinson, Fort Wayne economic development administrator, said. "The City of Fort Wayne going against all these big cities in the United States. But, it turned out that we were the winner." A main focus of the program is providing healthy food in an area of the city that has previously been described as a "food desert." A reason why Fort Wayne received the grant was because of the intention to combat childhood obesity. "We want to just try to help kids learn where their food comes from," Wolff said. "It's not just the grocery store shelf, and knowing that at an early age helps people really make those healthy choices." Wolff and Robinson want the kids who eventually are in this program to take what they learn home with them. They are incentivizing that by giving participants $25 gift cards to the Pontiac Street Market weekly. "They can go and buy additional ingredients for the recipes that they learn how to cook," Robinson said. The leaders behind the program said they hope to have 40 kids enrolled this summer. The program is set to start June 6. You can apply to register your child at this link. ...read more read less